


Through the good, the bad, and the stupid

by insertfruitpun



Category: The Witchlands Series - Susan Dennard
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28170099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insertfruitpun/pseuds/insertfruitpun
Summary: Takes place somewhere at the beginning of the fic, while they're at the inn.This is just a crackfic / new year's present for Melody. Not to be taken seriously.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 1





	Through the good, the bad, and the stupid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TwilightLegacy13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightLegacy13/gifts).
  * Inspired by [An Unexpected Introduction](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21347200) by [TwilightLegacy13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightLegacy13/pseuds/TwilightLegacy13). 



They needed to get on with the planning already. Safi knew that, but she didn't understand how everyone could just start discussing it without Leopold there.

It was like he wasn't even there. Safi didn't care much about politics, so if there was some elaborate reason as to why Leopold shouldn't be present during the planning, she didn't want to hear it. Honestly, how could they just leave a whole prince out?

Arida, she could understand. No one was sure what her deal was yet. But Leopold was the prince of Cartorra. He had to have at least some say in what they did.

And he helped them a lot. He sacrificed his position in Cartorra, and there was always the risk of getting caught with traitors and conspirators. Safi knew Henrick wouldn't hesitate to erase his nephew from the world if he made him look bad. 

Safi knew he wasn't exactly best friends with the group. Most of them could tolerate him, though they found him outright insufferable. That, Safi could understand. He wasn't the most serious person ever, but neither was she. And if Vaness and Merik could tolerate her, why was Leopold any different?

Vaness did take a while to warm up to her, yes, and Merik was uneasy around anyone that wasn't Nubrevnan, with the exception of Ryber, Safi and Iseult. But still, it was hardly fair of them to exclude Leopold just because they found him irritating.

Iseult, too, disliked Leopold, but she was the first to ask whether they should call the prince or not. And the bloodwitch agreed, even though his opinion on the prince were written on his face. Safi wondered if he agreed because he really believed Leopold should have a say in their next step, or because Iseult was the one who suggested it.

Safi herself wasn't really thinking about it until Iz mentioned it, but that was different. Iseult was her threadsister, and Safi was lost without her. And she was still so very irritated by how close she was to the bloodwitch that ruined their lives. She couldn't say a word about it, though, because she would never judge Iseult's choices. And because she was the one who befriended the Hell-Bards, despite fearing them for years.

She expected that at least Caden would go get Leopold, but no. She had to do everything herself.

Safi offered to go find Leopold and Arida and call them. She knew the conversation would go on without her, but she wasn't all that involved in it anyway. Her understanding of politics was incredibly shallow, her knowledge of geography extremely lacking, and all her plans awfully reckless. She had next to nothing to contribute to the conversation.

Safi walked through the long hall of the inn. She never really got to explore it, with all the tension going around.

She heard voices in the last room down the hall.

"That's ridiculous. Does he not know who you are?" Arida asked. Safi had no idea what she was talking about, or who the 'he' she was referring to was.

"Does he not know who I am?" Leopold echoed. While Arida sounded annoyed, he was saying it like he didn't even believe it could be possible.

"I mean, you obviously don't go around knocking shelves down on purpose. Who even does that?"

"Not me!"

"Exactly!"

Safi knew she shouldn't have been listening, but this was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. She had to see where this conversation was going.

Suddenly she wished she could see their threads like Iseult could. She imagined it would be pure gold.

"Some people give themselves too much importance," Arida said, "you know, like that one guard."

Leopold laughed, even though Arida didn't say anything that was at all funny. "You are not welcome here," he said, adopting a deeper tone.

Arida started laughing too. "A bit of make-up and even the most loyal subjects don't recognise their prince."

"A bit of make-up and hair dye." Safi could only imagine what that looked like.

"I was not aware of the hair dye," Arida said, "which I think is a blessing."

"I'll have you know I made an exquisite redhead for all four hours before my uncle deemed it unacceptable," Leopold said, sounding awfully proud of the fact that his four hour hair dye looked decent. Safi didn't know he had it in him. Leopold wasn't too much like his uncle, but Safi never thought he would actively challenge him. And this was obviously a challenge. Henrick liked being in control, and if he couldn't control his own nephew, it made him look bad. And men like Henrick hated looking bad. "In my defense, he left me unsupervised."

Henrick never did that. Safi was well aware of the fact, and so was Arida. She pointed it out to Leopold who just laughed it off. "Should've picked better supervision." And Arida laughed too. Hell, if Safi's life wasn't in trouble multiple times because of Henrick, she thought she might have found it funny as well.

"As if he could predict the stupid things you get up to," Arida said, making Leopold laugh harder.

Safi couldn't believe this. She knew that they were friends, but she was definitely not ready for this. Not at all. This was how she spoke to Iseult, and Leopold and Arida never seemed that close before. 

Safi knew logically that they had to be. Still, it was unsettling.

"He still doesn't know who it was that blew up that street corner." Well, now Safi was intrigued. She never really thought about their friendship, but even if she did, this would seem out of the realm of possibility

"I told you I had it under control," Arida insisted, "but the urge to make a scene is strong within you, isn't it?" It really did sound like a conversation Safi would have with her threadsister. Only slightly more unexpected and chaotic.

Safi decided to stay and listen just a little bit longer.

"You absolutely did not have it under control," Leopold said, "and even if you did, you're right. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make an entrance."

Safi would never forget the image that appeared in her mind when she heard that sentence. It would accompany her in her dreams and haunt her in her nightmares.

"Couldn't you at least have done it through the actual entrance? I imagine the glass from that window you broke was hard to explain."

"I didn't explain it. My uncle was furious."

Safi could practically hear Arida roll her eyes, which was not at all the appropriate reaction. Safi herself was trying not to laugh so hard she bit her lip. If it ended up bleeding, she'd have to follow Leopold's example and just not tell anyone.

"He was! And that whole thing was your fault. I had to lie to my uncle because of you!" Leopold said dramatically. Safi was definitely going to hurt her lip if she stood there any longer.

Arida ignored his little performance. "At least you can get away with that. I couldn't lie to my aunt to save my life." 

"You're a wordwitch."

"She's my aunt, though. I can't just lie to her."

"And I can lie to Henrick?" Safi doubted there was a single person Leopold never lied to. And if there was, then the only thing they ever asked him was the time. 

"That's different."

"Because he's not really human, just a pig in a suit?" Leopold's grin was audible in his voice.

"Will you ever let that one go? I was drunk!"

She just had to tell the others. This was hilarious.

Safi got back to the main room of the inn, where the conversation had indeed gone on without her. It was not at all unfortunate. The atmosphere wasn't too pleasant. 

Merik was arguing with his sister, who had Vaness on her side, and Iseult and Aeduan were not keeping quiet about their opinions on waiting for Leopold. That paired with the distrust most of the group had for each other wasn't looking good.

Well, Safi hated to break the hostility, but this was too good to ignore. "Everyone shut up!" she shouted. It got her a few annoyed looks and almost identical offended expressions from Merik and Vivia. "You will not believe what I just heard!"

"I knew they were traitors!" Vaness said, like she'd been expecting it. She probably was. To be fair, there was little that Vaness was not right about. But this was definitely one of those few things.

"What? No. Apparently Leopold had red hair for a while." Confused looks. Confused looks all around. Safi supposed she deserved it, though the reaction she wanted to achieve was laughter. 

"No way," Kullen said, "you're sure?" Safi was glad at least someone was thinking about this properly. 

Vaness sighed. "You're all children."

"Not all of us."

"Definitely all of you."

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Also Melody I cannot fucking believe you wrote 3k words about a mountain bat and I could only manage half of that about two human people. I call language barriers even though it's absolute bullshit. Happy new year once again :)


End file.
